Shrek 2 Swims Past Nemo

In just four weeks, DreamWorks’ Shrek 2, has become the top-grossing (domestically) animated film in history. At $354 million and still going strong, the toon sequel has passed up Disney/Pixar’s Finding Nemo, which overtook Disney’s The Lion King to earn the distinction last summer.

Shrek 2 opened on May 19 and enjoyed the best-ever opening weekend for an animated film, the largest five-day opening for any film, the biggest single-day Saturday gross for any film and the biggest single-day Sunday gross for any film.

DreamWorks Pictures head of distribution Jim Tharp comments, "To say that we are amazed and thrilled would be a huge understatement. We have celebrated every record, but this latest hurdle–to become the top-grossing animated film in history–is something we hardly even imagined. Everyone at DreamWorks and PDI shares in this accomplishment. We are all very, very proud of Shrek 2’s extraordinary success."

The first Shrek, which made $267 million domestically and won the first-ever Best Animated Feature Academy Award in 2001, drops from No. 3 to No. 4 on the list of top-grossing animated pics, landing behind The Lion King ($312.8 million).

Shrek 2 was directed by Andrew Adamson, Kelly Asbury and Conrad Vernon, with Aron Warner, David Lipman and John H. Williams producing. DreamWorks principal Jeffrey Katzenberg served as exec producer. Adamson, Joe Stillman, J. David Stem and David N. Weiss wrote the screenplay from a story by Adamson, based upon the book by William Steig.